Reply #4: Prostrate Cancer panel on 9/21/06 [View All]

[TayTay]

Davis seeks more money for prostate cancer study
Friday, September 22, 2006

WASHINGTON - Congress should increase spending on research and early detection of prostate cancer, Rep. Artur Davis said Thursday during a forum on why black men die more often than whites from the disease.

Alabama has the second-highest death rate in the nation for black men with prostate cancer, at 82.7 percent, according to American Cancer Society statistics published by the Prostate Health Education Network. Nationally, the death rate for black men diagnosed with the disease is 70.4; for whites, the death rate is 28.8.

"If all the disparities ... were a function of some malevolent factor, like if the Ku Klux Klan somehow was causing disparities in health care ... I almost think we'd do a better job of dealing with this," said Davis, D-Birmingham. He endorsed a proposal by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., that Congress spend $40 million on more early detection programs.

"There's $325 billion going into Iraq. Before we destroy every relationship we have left on the face of this planet, we can find $40 million to face up to this issue here at home," Kerry said.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1158917369252000.xml&coll=2